Tag Archives: energy
New Wind-Based Curriculum Uses Several Scales and GIS
A series of five new curricular activities use the spatial perspective and GIS to delve into wind and wind energy from a continental to a local scale. Four of the activities use ArcGIS Online and one uses ArcGIS desktop version 10, and all of them reside on the ArcLessons library. One might say these activities are “wind-driven!”
Analyzing Current Wind Speed and Direction in North America uses ArcGIS Online as a tool for examining the spatial or geographic dimensions of current wind speed and direction in North America. Compare your own data gathered at your location to the online current wind speed and direction. Consider why and where winds blow.
Siting a Wind Farm in Indiana uses ArcGIS Online for siting a wind farm in Indiana. Use variables such as proximity to existing powerlines, population density, and other criteria to determine the ideal site for a wind farm.
Exploring the San Gorgonio Wind Farm uses ArcGIS Online for exploring the famous, enormous San Gorgonio Wind Farm in California. Consider why terrain, wind speed and direction, and population base make this the ideal place for a wind farm through analyzing local maps and a video filmed on site. The activity ends by inviting you to investigate a different wind farm and create a map, telling its story using ArcGIS Online.
Siting a Wind Turbine on Your School Campus uses ArcGIS Online as a tool for siting a wind turbine on a typical school campus. Consider relief, proximity to buildings, wind speed, local access, and other variables, first by examining Platte Valley High School in Colorado, and then your own campus.
Siting wind farms in Colorado with GIS
uses ArcGIS version 10 as your primary investigative tool, considering the location of cities, the Continental Divide, highways, rivers, counties, wind speed and power, land use, and elevation. Data layers are from Esri, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Colorado Department of Transportation.
How might you use these activities to encourage spatial thinking, to teach and learn about wind and wind energy, and to foster GIS skills?
- Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager
2011 Earth Day PollMap
Help us observe Earth Day 2011 by letting us know what you think are the most important environmental challenges facing humankind.
Imagine you had $100 to spend to help protect the Earth. How would you invest your money?
- Climate Change & Sea-level Rise
- Sustainable Alternative Energy
- Population Growth and Family Planning
- Unpolluted Air and Fresh Water
- Healthy and Sustainable Food Supplies
- Environmental Education
- Clean Oceans and Sustainable Fisheries
Vote now! http://pollmap.esri.com/earthday
Fun With GIS #61: Energy, Politics, and Ignorance [#esw]
It’s Earth Science Week, and election time. What do these two have in common? Lots of people go “Eh. So what?” And that’s a problem.
Folks who ignore elections may discover to their irritation policies affecting their lives in ways unanticipated. Folks ignoring earth science may awake one day to discover energy costs soaring, or learn their home faces cataclysm, or hear news of political unrest stemming from large scale environmental change. It’s possible to ignore some subjects for a while, and pretend the world is a stable place … but certainly unwise and potentially perilous to do so.
The theme for Earth Science Week this year is energy. Esri has put together some resources for educators to use in exploring energy. It can even be as simple as searching for “energy” within ArcGIS Online. Any results that are “web mapping applications” can be viewed directly in their apps; any results listed as “web maps” ((such as the “Wind Energy” map, below)) can be viewed using the ArcGIS.com Viewer.
In both earth science and politics, ignorance is not bliss; it’s just ignorance. Part of the magic of GIS is that it helps people understand how seemingly disparate parts of the world relate to each other. As the drum beats loudly for STEM education across the US in preparation for careers, the role for GIS in education is ever more clear. Explore how energy, politics, and so many other aspects of the world affect your world today, using GIS.
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Co-Manager, Esri Schools Program
